It was a hot day in the middle of July, but it wasn't too hot to be blistering. Sonic heard earlier that day that Knuckles was ended up in some trouble in Flair Forest. He took Tails along with him to find out what had happened to Knuckles and to make sure that he wasn't hurt.

"Are you sure that he's in here Sonic," Tails asked. "We've been searching for about an hour and we haven't even caught sight of anything."

"This forest is massive. Within the hour we've been searching, we haven't even come close to searching the entire place. I just wish I could have a clue as to where he might be so we could find out if he's okay or not."

"Me too."

The two of them continued to search the forest. Their efforts, for the most part, have been wasted because they ended up in several dead ends and have several times ended up back where they started. All the clues of Knuckles' location have sadly done nothing for them and just made their search much more complicated.

"Do you even know what happened to him, Sonic?"

"Not exactly. Knuckles was brought here with Rouge so they could have their 'alone time' and next thing I know, Rouge is knocking on my door saying that Knuckles was ambushed."

"I don't trust that bat. I wouldn't be surprised if she planned the ambush and just sent Knuckles here into her trap."

"They have a very valid relationship, Tails. I agree that I think that Rouge is a shady character, but I respect Knuckles for loving her. You're Knuckles' friend, you should respect his decision too."

"I guess, but I can't exactly do that if we can't find him."

"I know."

They continued on their way, this time having more fortunate efforts. They have found new places of the forest and are now getting some ground on where Knuckles may be. After some decent searching, they came across somebody lying on the ground, but it sadly was not Knuckles. On the contrary, it was someone that they had they would never run into. As they circled to get a better look at the downed person, they found it to be a green, scarred hedgehog named Scourge.

"It's Scourge," Tails exclaimed.

"Yeah, I know. I wonder how he ended up in a place like." Sonic knelt down to look at Scourge's disheveled body more closely. There were a couple of bruises and stream of blood running his cheek and left arm. His jacket that he always wore was stained red and his glasses were cracked on both of the lenses.

"We should get going, Sonic. You don't know when he's going to wake up. I really don't want to be around when he does."

"I don't know, Tails. For one, he can't really do much in the condition he is in. For another thing, I think we should help him get to a hospital."

"What? What about Knuckles? He needs our help much more than Scourge clearly does?"

"I care a lot about Knuckles and I want to make sure he's safe, but Scourge needs help too. Even though I hate him and he has done his share of damage to me, everyone deserves the right to get a second chance." Sonic paused for a second. "Do you want to look for Knuckles on your own while I take Scourge to the hospital?"

Tails was prepared to say 'yes' because he didn't want to argue with Sonic about Scourge, but then he took in his surroundings of the slightly dark forest. He realized that he had only made it so far because Sonic was there to make him feel more comfortable.

"Do you really have to take Scourge to the hospital?"

"Do you want to come with me to bring him," Sonic asked. Tails thought about it and shook his head. He didn't like the forest a lot, but he disliked Scourge even more. His dislike wasn't just because that Scourge had hurt him a lot, but it was because Scourge had hurt Sonic a lot more. They are sworn enemies, and Tails wasn't exactly one to quickly forgive someone without having a reason to.

Before they parted ways, Sonic handed Tails a little device. "I took a couple of these along with us because I was afraid that we may be separated. It's a communication device and we can contact each other if something bad happens. I'll drop Scourge off somewhere if you call me, and I will come help you out with anything." Tails nodded and went his own way. Sonic took Scourge into his arms and was glad to know that he was light and easy to carry.

Sonic began to retrace his steps and hoped that he would get out of the forest without getting too lost. After twenty minutes of walking, Sonic began seeing familiar sights and he knew that he would soon be out of the forest. Since Sonic was running through the forest he wasn't quite looking down at Scourge, who was slowly waking up. Scourge slowly peeked open one eye so that he could see what was happening to him. When he saw that it was Sonic that was carrying him through the forest, he was shocked. He wanted to get out of his arms and walk on his own, but he had lost a good deal of blood and was too weak to make any movements of his own. He shut his eyes again and he waited as he became unconscious again.

Sonic slowly watched as the forest became brighter as he made it to parts where the trees and shrubbery weren't so dense. In only a couple of minutes, Sonic was back to where he started at the beginning of the "maze". He walked over to the X Tornado that was sitting comfortably a good distance away from Flair Forest. Both Sonic and Tails agreed that taking the plane would be a waste of time because the trees were too dense and seeing into the forest would be nearly impossible, so they just left it here.

Sonic decided to take a breather, so he sat down in the shade provided by the X Tornado, sitting Scourge down next to him. He took a few deep breaths, because he had been running for over a half hour and it had drained him of his energy. Although he is the fastest being alive, forty minutes of running can drain anyone of their energy. Then he turned to Scourge, who was leaning against the X Tornado with his head looking to the floor. It looked as if he was dead, but Sonic knew that he was alive.

"I don't know what you're doing here, Scourge," Sonic said to the limp, green hedgehog, hoping that he would hear him. "But, Tails isn't wrong about you. You have done some pretty terrible things ever since I have known you." Sonic paused to catch some of his breath. "Everyone deserves a second chance, though, even someone who is as evil as you. I know you can't hear me or even understand what I'm saying, but I want you to know that if you try any funny business with me or any of my friends, then I will put you back in that forest without hesitation."

Sonic then turned to Scourge again, feeling embarrassed that he was just talking to someone that can't hear him or even respond to him. Sonic stood up and, despite his lack of energy, continued on to find a hospital for Scourge. It wasn't that hard, though, because he knew exactly where the nearest town was and he knew that it wasn't that far away. After only a few minutes of running, he saw buildings rise over the horizon into a town that he wasn't quite familiar with.

The town was filled with various animals going across the roads trying to do things like get to their jobs and do shopping. As Sonic went through these crowds of people, he was given several stares as they saw Scourge over his back. Sonic went up to an echidna who was just roaming and asked him where the nearest hospital. Although he gave him funny looks, he pointed in a direction of a hospital. Sonic thanked him and ran in the direction that the echidna pointed to. It didn't take long until Sonic appeared in front of a moderately sized building that was named "Lisp Town Hospital".

Sonic went inside and as a nurse saw him come in, she rushed to his side at the sight of Scourge.

"What happened," the pink hedgehog nurse asked.

"I don't know. I was roaming around Flair Forest looking for a friend of mine and he was just lying on the ground. I don't even know how he got this way."

"Flair Forest is a dangerous place. I'll call a doctor in here, and we'll get him into a room." The nurse went into the back rooms and emerged a couple minutes later with a tall red hedgehog that Sonic assumed to be the doctor. Without even speaking, the doctor went over to Sonic and grabbed Scourge out of his arms. Sonic was actually a little shocked to see how quick the whole situation was going out. Both the doctor and nurse disappeared behind the doors that led to the back rooms didn't hear anything else about it.

Sonic didn't feel like leaving because he thought that the doctors might think that he just abandoned Scourge. He sat in the waiting room not really thinking about anything, just sitting there. There was no word from Tails and there was no word of Scourge's condition, so all Sonic could do was wait. For the next hour, on one or two occasions, a nurse would come out and let Sonic know that Scourge would be fine and that he would wake up soon. It was about an hour and a half since Sonic's entrance that the doctor finally came out to greet Sonic.

"He's doing fine, and he is finally awake." Sonic gave him a reassuring nod and a clean smile. "He actually asked me if he could see you, and he wouldn't take no for an answer."

"Yeah, sure. Where's his room?"

"Let me lead you."

The red hedgehog turned around and Sonic followed closely behind him. They went through the doors that have were the bridge between the waiting room and the whole mystery that is the medical rooms. They went down a few doors and turned a left. After going past two more doors, the doctor turned to his left and opened a door that goes into 'Room 16'. As they went in, Sonic could see a familiar face who was trying to eat some mashed potatoes that he clearly wasn't enjoying.

Sonic turned around to face the red hedgehog. "Thank you, Doctor…"

"Cinos… Doctor Cinos. Don't stay too long. Scourge needs his rest. Otherwise, call if there are any issues." Doctor Cinos exited the room and left Sonic and Scourge alone in awkward silence.

"I hear you saved me from the forest. Why are you trying to save a guy like," Scourge asked.

Sonic turned to face him. "Everyone deserves a second chance, Scourge, even someone as devious as you."

Scourge smirked and pushed away the food that he so hated. "You have a lot of heart, Blue. I like that about ya."

"Yes, well… consider yourself lucky. If it were anybody else, they would've just left you there to rot."

"Oh… cold-blooded, Sonic. How can you say something like that to a horribly injured person in a hospital?" Scourge gave Sonic a toothy smile. Even though he is weak, he is still perfectly able to pull off sarcastic jokes with ease. Sonic sighed, as he wasn't exactly in the mood to be talked back to by Scourge. That's when a third voice entered the voice.

"Sonic… come in. I found Knuckles and he's in pretty bad shape. I need your help to get him to a hospital." Sonic grabbed the communication device where Tail's voice was coming from. "Sure, Tails… I'll be there in a moment."

"Oh yeah, grab something to write with and a piece of paper. I have a GPS device in the X Tornado and I can give you our coordinates."

Sonic ripped a piece of paper towel and used one of the doctor's pens. "Go ahead Tails."

"X: 256, Y: 425, Z: 16" Sonic wrote down the three numbers as instructed and put the pen back where it belonged.

"Alright Tails, I'll be there soon." Tails' voice then clicked off from the communication device.

"It gets boring and it would be nice to talk to someone, particularly the guy who saved me and actually gives a damn about what I think."

"Sorry, I got to go. Tails is in desperate need of my help."

"No, Sonic," Scourge said aggressively. "Screw, Tails. He can handle the stupid echidna by himself." Sonic still grabbed for the doorknob and gave it a twist. Scourge, in his rage, grabbed at one of the larger scalpels and threw it at the door, intentionally missing Sonic. The little knife just stuck there in the wooden door. Sonic turned around to face Scourge, who looked furious.

"I knew you haven't changed. You're still the old Scourge. Tails was right about you not deserving a second chance."

"Then just leave! I don't need you."

Sonic left the room and stammered out of the hospital. The nurses thanked him for his visit, but they might as well have thanked him for taming the wild beast that is Scourge. He exited the city without giving a second look to anyone that he passed by. He then began running in the direction of Flair Forest. He hoped that finding Tails would get his mind off of his fury towards Scourge.

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